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Rated 4 out of 5 by Fabrizio Volpe from How Much do I Have to Spend to Bring Microsoft Lync to My Company?Disclaimer: the new version of Lync Server 2013, Skype for Business (SfB) Server 2015, has been released a few weeks ago. Licensing model is the same you had for Lync Server, with companies paying only Front End servers (i.e. the ones hosting user accounts and the core services for your infrastructure). SfB contains some new features, including support for Back End availability based on AlwaysOn groups. I will write a dedicated post asap.The costs related to MicrosoftLync are something that I have talked about more than once but this is thefirst time I try to summarize information in a single document. I will limit myreflections to on-premisesorganizations, because as I am writing, LyncOnline has no serious support for EnterpriseVoice (i.e. VOIP) and this makesthe Cloud version of Lync less flexible (and somewhat less interesting) thanthe more traditional, corporate deployment.Your House, Your RulesA starting point for allcost-related considerations is to understand which kind of service we need.Lync Server 2013 supports solutions ranging from a single, all-in-one box (witha mandatory Office Web Apps serverrequired to share PowerPoint presentations) to hundreds of serversgeographically dispersed. Let us list some parameters.1. Number ofUsersThe first parameter youhave to establish is the number of users that will require Lync services. Lync2013 Standard Edition (S.E.), the aforementioned single box,is tested to support up to 5,000 users. Obviously, before you reach the 4,999thLync enabled account, it could be a good idea to add a second Front End (the server that delivers coreservices to the users) or consider a Lync EnterpriseEdition (E.E.) solution (moredetails on the two editions of Lync Server 2013 are explained in the nextparagraph)2. RequiredAvailabilitySecond parameter will bethe required level of availability. If we deem service continuity as requiredfor any of the Lync features (especially if we are going to use Lync as ourVOIP system), it should be in a high availability deployment. Lync poolssupport a feature called Pool Pairing,if we have at least a couple of Lync 2013 S.E. Front End servers in our infrastructure.It is not an H.A. solution, but adds resiliency to the solution and it grants somedegree of survivability to the voice users. In a paired pool, using a series ofscripts, we are also able to fail-over and fail-back Lync users, restoring fullfunctionality for them. A highly available solution requires the E.E. of LyncServer 2013.Although there is no difference in the cost of licenses betweenS.E and E.E., to use Enterprise Edition you must have at least pool of threeFront Ends connected to a separate SQL Serverdatabase (whereas S.E. uses a collocated SQL Server express at no additional cost).A dedicated SQLinfrastructure would also require a continuity solution, like clustering ormirroring. A well-known rule of thumb is if we need to provide highavailability, then we need to remove any potential Single Point of Failure in the design.Small, remote officesmight also require (at least) voice survivability. For such a scenario, we havea dedicated implementation of Lync Server 2013, the Survivable Branch Appliances (SBA);these are less expensive than a full-blown Lync front-end server.Note:SQL licensing for Lync Server 2013 has been deep dived in a good post fromfellow MVP Thomas Poett in his blog Lync Server 2013: Lync Backend SQL Server Licensing http://lyncuc.blogspot.it/2014/01/lync-server-2013-lync-backend-sql.html ( http://lyncuc.blogspot.it/2014/01/lync-server-2013-lync-backend-sql.html )Availability requirementshave an impact also on point 3 and 5 of this list.3. AdditionalServersLync requires someadditional servers that have no additional cost from the Lync server licensingpoint of view but that add costs to acquire the base Operating System, hardwareand so on.* At least a Lync 2013 Edge server and a reverse proxy are required to make our services available to usersoutside our corporate network* The only Lync role thatrequires a Lync server license is the Front End. All other additional roleslike Mediation, Director and theaforementioned Edge are not subjectto additional Lync server licensing* At least an Office WebApps server is required (as I said before) if PowerPoint sharing is required* If we have high-availabilityrequirements, the aforementioned services should be redundant through an edgepool, a highly-available reverse proxy and an Office Web Apps farm* Lync integrate withExchange Unified Messaging (UM) for services like voice mail. Exchange willhave its own requirements and costs, but we have to keep them in mind if werequire UM-related services* A Lync 2013 E.E. poolrequires a dedicated load balancer to balance certain type of traffic from thepool. This may be provided in the form of a physical or virtual appliance.Remembering SPoF, load balancer should also require an additional standbydevice for resiliency.Note: EveryLync, Office Web Apps, SQL database and reverse proxy (if you are going to usea solution based on Windows Server) will require a license for the OperatingSystem. You could use virtualization rights (Licensing for Virtual Environments https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/about-licensing/virtualization.aspx ( https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/about-licensing/virtualization.aspx ) ) to keep costs down, but this aspect is to beincluded in the list4. ClientLicensesFor the following point, Iwill quote my free e-book Microsoft Lync Server 2013: Basic Administration (http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/office/Lync-Server-2013-Basic-0a86824d ( http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/office/Lync-Server-2013-Basic-0a86824d ) )Lyncrequires a CAL (Client Access License) for each user or machine that logs on tothe server. CALs are of three types and each one is entitled to the use of apart of the features. Access to premium functionality is determined by adoptionof the Standard CAL and then youhave to add supplemental CALS, an EnterpriseCAL and, for some additional features, a third license called Plus CAL (you may think to EnterpriseCAL and Plus CAL as supplemental to the Standard CAL).* Standard CAL: offers IM (InstantMessaging) and Presence, as well as PC-PC audio and video communication* Enterprise CAL: the user can usemulti-party Lync meetings (including GalleryView, a feature allowing up to five active video streams to be displayed atonce)* Plus CAL: enables enterprise voicecapabilities5. InfrastructurecostsThere area couple of entries in the bill of materials not directly related to Lync, butthat we have to consider anyway:* If we aregoing to use Lync Server 2013 as our telephony infrastructure, we will requireaccess to the public telephony system. There are a lot of offers and solutionsfrom hundreds of providers worldwide, so an exact cost estimation is tough tooutline here. Granting high availability will raise the costs here too, addingmandatory backup lines in case of a failure on our provider’s side* LyncServer 2013 has a high level of security by default and requires digitalcertificates to function. While our internal infrastructure can work with acorporate Certification Authority (C.A.), if we plan to make our Lyncservices available to Internet users (and to federate them with externalUnified Communication systems) we have to use commercial certificates from awell-known, third party C.A. The cost here is not something to underestimate,because digital certificates will have to be SAN with many alternative namesinside. In addition, the more SIP domains we will manage with our Lyncdeployment, the more names we will need in the certificates, and certificatefees are likely to ramp-up further.SummarizingNow, as it is easy tounderstand from the previous list, there is no right answer to the startingquestion. I will try to focus a few points:1.HighAvailability will raise the costs, as usual2.Using LyncEnterprise Voice will add license and infrastructure costs (as well as makingH.A. almost mandatory)3.The number of users and their level of accessto Lync’s features will impact budget both for the deployment sizing and forthe needed client licenses4.The bulk partof the expenditure items related to a Lync deployment are not related to Lyncserver licensing, but to the other voices we have seenAlessio Giombini contributed to this review.Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.